The next morning, everyone was having breakfast in the cafeteria again. Chen Xia took out 20 yuan from his pocket and gave it to Chen Chun.
"Sister, take my uncle and his family to Hangzhou to have some fun today."
Chen Chun didn't take the money and asked curiously, "Why don't you go play with us?"
"Well, well, I'm going to work at the Fourth Hospital soon. Uncle Ren from the infectious disease department said he wants to take me as his apprentice, so I wanted to take this opportunity to go to the Xinhua Bookstore to see if there are any relevant medical books I can buy to study on my own. If they're too expensive, I'll just spend the day reading in the Xinhua Bookstore."
After all, Chen Chun was a girl with little social experience. When she heard Chen Xia use this excuse, she thought it was a good thing.
"Okay, it's a good thing you have this attitude towards learning. Just go by yourself. I'll take Chen Dong and the others out to play."
"Sister, take this money and buy them some delicious food. You know we can't buy anything delicious in the countryside."
Seeing that his younger brother was so sensible, Chen Chun felt very comforted. He took the money with a smile, took the hands of the cheering Chen Dong and Chen Qiu, and the little fat uncle, and went to the park to play together.
Chen Xia walked out of the university gate alone, took a deep breath, and smiled evilly.
"Donor lady, I'm bringing you some rice!"
Chen Xia plans to sell rice. Are there any policy restrictions? Will he be arrested by the police or the Chaoyang aunties? Will he be taken to the police station on charges of speculation?
Chen Xia had already thought about this and felt that it shouldn't be the case.
Farmers should have been allowed to sell their own agricultural products in 1980.
Of course, you have to find a limit. If you say you sell dozens of kilograms of your own rice, no one will care.
If you sell dozens of tons of rice at once, you will definitely be caught.
These days, the definition of speculation is "making profits by means of short selling, hoarding, arbitrage and resale."
So as long as you are careful and don't cross the line, no one will make things difficult for a small farmer, right?
Since it can be sold, the question is how to sell it. It is important to choose the right place.
If you sell it near West Lake, it won't work because it's a tourist area. If you sell it in Wulin Square, it won't work either because the aunties buying vegetables there won't pass by.
So Chen Xia took his time and looked for densely populated residential areas. These places had a concentrated population, a high demand for food, and were easy to source.
Of course, the most important thing is to learn guerrilla warfare. There are small alleys everywhere in residential areas, which are conducive to escape.
Chen Xia found a small road with residential areas on both sides. There were also some state-owned grocery stores and supply and marketing cooperatives at the entrance of the community.
Chen Xia didn't dare to set up shop in front of these state-owned stores, as that would be courting death.
He found an intersection with a lot of people. The old men and women who went to buy vegetables in the morning were all carrying baskets. It seemed that the living conditions of the surrounding residents were also good. Who would dare to go to the vegetable market every day without money these days?
There is also a wall 50 meters away from the intersection, and there is a hole in the wall.
Chen Xia climbed in and took a look. It was an old, uninhabited house, which was just enough to cover him as he quietly took out bags of rice from the space hospital.
After thinking of a way out, Chen Xia took out a paper sign that he had made long ago, with a few large characters written on it:
"Selling rice, no food coupons needed."
Chen Xia put down a bag of rice, each bag weighing 30 kilograms, and a scale taken from the Chinese medicine pharmacy of Space Hospital on the side of the road, and opened for business.
Everything is ready, only the east wind is missing.
People asking for the price came faster than expected. As soon as Chen Xia put the rice out, a group of old men and women gathered around him.
An old lady picked up a handful of rice, looked at it, and said:
"Young man, do you really not need food coupons for this rice?"
"Yes, Auntie, this is the rice we grew ourselves. We're selling it because we're in urgent need of money. This is all new rice this year."
Several elderly people commented on the rice and expressed their approval of its quality.
Yuezhou has been a land of fish and rice since ancient times, and the quality of its rice is definitely the best.
Another aunt asked, "Young man, how much is this rice per pound?"
"40 cents a pound."
"What? 40 cents a pound! That's expensive! The best quality rice at the supply and marketing cooperative is only 19 cents a pound."
Chen Xia smiled and said, "But the rice in the supply and marketing cooperative requires food coupons. Now, if you take out one jin of food coupons to trade, you need at least two jin of rice. Let's do the math. My price here is 40 cents per jin, which is actually cheaper. And you can buy as much as you want, and the whole family can have enough to eat."
The old men and women chuckled and said, "Yes, people don't have enough to eat nowadays, especially some families who have to help their poor relatives."
Moreover, compared to money, what was most lacking was food coupons. These days, even if you had money but no food coupons, you still couldn't buy food.
Many people who were going on business trips or sending relatives for emergency assistance would secretly go to the black market to exchange for food coupons.
Local food coupons are cheaper, but national food coupons are more expensive. At the most expensive, one pound of food coupons can be sold for three or four yuan.
What Chen Xia said just now was quite conservative. Two kilograms of rice on the black market are not enough to exchange for one kilogram of food coupons.
City dwellers are very smart, but don't be too calculating, even a penny or two can't be off.
So even though Chen Xia's rice is priced quite high, at 40 cents per pound, and 10 pounds of rice is only 4 yuan, 10 pounds of rice may be enough to fill the gap in the family's food supply this month.
In this era, people generally lack oil and water, which also leads to a huge increase in appetite. In 2020, a grown man cannot finish half a pound of rice in a day.
But in 1980, it was not difficult for a grown man to eat two kilograms of rice a day.
You have to know that cities are different from rural areas. If farmers don’t have rice to eat, they can eat sweet potatoes, taro, or even wild vegetables. However, the food sources of city dwellers are single, and they completely rely on supply and marketing cooperatives and state-owned food stores.
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